Music Feature

Review: Rihanna - 'Loud'

Scenario: you're at the ice cream shop and there’s a kid ordering in
front of you. They get all the good stuff: chocolate, caramel, nuts,
gummy bears, cake, and brownies. When you see the finished product,
mixed all together like that, you wonder if it tastes remotely as good
as it sounds. It ends up being a bit too much. This Dairy Queen mess is
like Rihanna’s Loud. Her fifth album has all the pop music
goodies: a collaboration with Drake, another with Nicki Minaj, popular
hip-hop elements, poppy rock ones, ballads, and party bangers. If a
technique has garnered anyone mainstream success lately, guaranteed it
makes its way on to this album.

Included is a very un-Rihanna soft acoustic number, “California King
Bed.” She even throws in a dancehall track, her first since 2006, one of
the album’s gems, “Man Down.” In an effort to please any and everyone
who has ever listened to her, Loud doesn't wish to establish a distinct sound or musical identity. Equally as vibrant as her new hair color, Loud
isn’t the kind of thing you'll either love or hate. Most likely, you'll
fall somewhere in the middle. But not of your own free will. It’s just
that something’s here for everyone. Your favorite song comes on right
after the one you hate.

Like the person in front of you at DQ, you start to feel a little sick.
Sweets overload. Mixing all the best parts of your favorite treats
doesn’t make it the best dessert ever. Sometimes chocolate done well is
sweet enough on its own. So by the end of it, you're questioning Loud’s
authenticity, and you question who Rihanna is as an artist. And judging
by the lyrics of “What’s My Name?” seems like she had to ask herself
the very same quesitons. (Def Jam)